Ranged Attack

Class Features

Flexible Attacks

You gain a number of flexible attack maneuvers as per your level advancement table. These maneuvers work as per the standard flexible attack rules on page 167 of the Core Book:

Attacks that are flexible are an exception to the normal decision-making sequence. When you decide to make a flexible attack, you choose your target first, make your attack roll, and then use the natural unmodified die result to determine which of your eligible flexible attacks to use. You still use the modified roll to determine whether or not you hit, but your flexible attacks trigger off the natural result on the die sitting in front of you. You can only use one flexible attack at a time. You can’t use a flexible attack when you make an opportunity attack. If you have some attacks that are flexible and some that are not, declare whether you are making a flexible attack or a specific non-flexible attack before you roll.

Rangers gain a new type of flexible attack, flexible animal companion attacks. These use your animal companion's hit and damage values. If your animal companion is next to you and engaged with the same enemy, you can make an attack roll first and then declare whether the attack was from you or the companion. If the two of you are not adjacent, you must declare who attacks before making the roll.

Animal Companion

You have befriended an animal to accompany you on your journey. Even though you have trained the animal and developed a strong personal relationship with it, it remains a wild beast at heart. You can freely choose the type of animal - wolves, large cats, birds of prey, bears and snakes are common choices.

Baseline Stats

Your animal companion has Strength, Dexterity, Constitution and Wisdom ability scores similar to a player character. Assign the following four values as you see fit, to match your image of the animal: 16 (+3), 14 (+2), 12 (+1) and 10 (0). Your animal companion has the mental and social capabilities of a wild animal of its kind. It has no separate Intelligence or Charisma scores. If they are required in-game for some reason, use Wisdom instead.

Your animal companion is the same level as you. It adds the escalation die to attacks.

Attack

Dex or Str + Level

Damage

1d6 per level + Str(double at 5th, triple at 8th level)

AC

11 + Dex + Level

PD

10 + Con + Level

MD

10 + Wis + Level

HP

(3 + Con) x level modifier

Recovery Dice

(1d8 x level) + Con modifier

Actions

Usually, your animal companion will stay nearby you. It engages or disengages enemies with you, without making separate checks or move actions. However, if necessary, your animal companion can take a move action on your turn and engage or disengage enemies on its own.

Your animal companion does not have its own standard action or make independent attacks. Instead, it will make attack as part of your flexible attack maneuvers. It does not take opportunity attacks unless it has an ability that allows it to.

Healing and Recoveries

Your animal companion can be healed like an ally. The two of you share one pool of recoveries (usually 8).

Adventurer feat: When you use the rally action, use only one recovery to heal both you and the companion.

Death and Dying

Instead of dying like a monster or NPC at 0 hp, your animal companion follows PC rules for death and dying. (Core book p.169)

If your animal companion dies, you can summon another one when the story allows, but it will be one level lower than an animal companion would normally be. At the start of a new adventure, or when you gain a level, bump the companion up to its proper level.

Companion Abilities

Each type of animal companion is a little different. Choose one of the abilities listed below.

Alpha Male: Once per day, you can direct your animal companion to attack as a quick action.

Boa Constrictor: Once per battle, your animal companion can turn a disengage success by an enemy it is engaged with into a failure.

Cat's Grace:Once per day, your animal companion can force an enemy to reroll an attack that hit it.

Hindclaws: Once per day, reroll one of your animal companion’s missed attack rolls.

Little Thief: You have trained your animal companion to steal small items for you without drawing attention.

Mount: Your animal companion is large and strong enough that you can ride it. This does not have a direct rules effect in combat, but it is a big asset in overland travel.

Natural Hunter: Your animal companion gains a +2 background to represent its natural tracking and hunting abilities. Increase the background by +1 for each animal companion feat you choose.

Pack Hunter: While your animal companion is next to you, you gain a +2 bonus to opportunity attacks. If your natural roll on an opportunity attack is 15+, the target loses its intended move or ranged attack.

Pack Mother: Once per day, when you are hit by an enemy while your animal companion is next to you, your animal companion can attack this enemy as a free action.

Poison fangs: This ability is required for poison animal companion attacks. You gain one such maneuver as a bonus.

Wild Boar Charge: It gains a +1 attack bonus when it moves before its attack during the same turn.

Wild Wings: It flies!

Animal Companion feats

Adventurer feat: Your animal companion gains a second ability from the above list.

Champion feat: Your animal companion gains a third ability from the above list.

Class Talents - Animal Companion Talents

The following class talents are grouped together, because they all apply to your animal companion.

Agile Animal Companion

Your animal companion gains a +2 bonus to Dexterity. In addition, it gains the Cat's Grace ability at no cost.

Adventurer feat: Your animal companion is able to make opportunity attacks.

Epic feat: Your animal companion gains a further +2 to Dexterity, for a total of +4.

Bird of Prey

Your animal companion gains the Wild Wings ability for free. In addition, your companion can engage nearby enemies as part of a melee attack. It gains a +2 bonus to disengage checks against opponents that can't fly.

Champion feat: While your animal companion is flying and airborne, it can engage enemies on the ground as part of its attack.

Enchanted Companion

Your animal companion has been granted sentience through a druidic ritual, ancient animal king ancestry, or a fey blessing. It gains an Intelligence of 12 and a Charisma of 10 (switch if desired). It can speak not only with animals of its own kind, but knows at least one "civilized" language.

Ferocious Beast

Adept: As above, but the animal companion gains another +2 bonus to Strength AND Constitution. Increase its damage dice to d10.

Adventurer feat: You gain an extra recovery (which is technically your companion's, but you share recoveries).

Spirit Companion

Your animal companion is not a living animal, it only exists in the spirit realm. It gains resist physical damage 14+ and a +2 bonus to its Wisdom score. In addition, its attacks count as either holy, negative energy or force damage (choose one).

Adventurer feat: When your companion is reduced below 0 hp by an attack, it can make a hard save (16+) to negate the damage of that attack.

Champion feat: Increase the resistance to 18+.

Variants: Insect swarm (poison damage), fire elemental (fire damage)

Class Talents - Other

Ancestral Guidance

You can choose flexible attacks from the Warrior Druid list (see 13 True Ways page 61). You gain Ancestral Guidance as a free bonus maneuver, but no other Warrior Druid abilities.

Ancient Paths

You have the Tracker background at its full possible bonus of +5, without having to spend your normal background points on it. You are an expert wilderness tracker, capable of reading clues from the environment that others can't perceive. You can track in urban environments too, but usually at higher difficulty.

You also know the ancient streets, paths and portals that are used across the Dragon Empire by the Icons and their followers. Your knowledge depends on your icon relationships, as per the list below, regardless of whether those relationships are positive, negative or conflicted.

You are familiar with the major arteries, shelters and shortcuts along these roads. You know how to find the shortest and safest route, and how to deal with its strangers and dangers. You can even locate and identify portals, and how to research the opening keys. With that knowledge, you can lead a small group to almost any location within the Empire within days.

The Archmage: Portals in Horizon, the Flying Realms and the Overworld

The Crusader, the Diabolist: Portals between Hellholes and into the Abyss

The Dwarf King: The Undermarch and other dwarven tunnels, mines and railroads

The Elf Queen: Shifting paths in the Queen's Wood, portals into other woods, the location of the Court

The Emperor: The ancient Imperial Roads, including lost and broken trails

The Great Gold Wyrm: Flight paths of the metallic dragons (and how to negotiate for a lift)

The High Druid: Path in the Wild Wood and other wilderness, routes and migration patterns of the Kooru Behemoths

The Lich King: Necropolis, the Underworld

The Orc Lord: Routes and territories of the orc tribes and other savages

The Priestess: Pilgrimage routes to holy sites of many faiths, portals to divine realms

The Prince of Shadows: The back alleys of every city, trade routes and secret portals, the Shadow Realm

The Three: Flight routes of the chromatic dragons (and how to negotiate for a lift)

Epic Feat: You have mastered rituals that can maintain and repair these paths and even open new gates on them. If you do not have daily spells to expend for casting these rituals, use a recovery instead.

Archery

Initiate: Once per battle, reroll one of your missed ranged attacks.

Adept: Against nearby enemies, you gain a +1 bonus to attack with your bow, and your damage dice are increased from d8 to d10.

Champion Feat: Once per day, you can use the Archery reroll twice in the same battle.

Epic Feat: Once per day, you can turn a normal hit with a ranger ranged attack into a critical hit.

Beast Lore

You have a strong connection to animals, and feel more comfortable around them than the so-called civilized races. When making a skill check to handle an animal, roll twice and take the better result. Through instinct or supernatural ability, you are able to communicate with animals, although the information you can exchange is limited by how the animal perceives its surroundings. Use the Druid's Nature Talking class feature for guidance.

Adventurer feat: You can call animals from the surrounding area to you. They can provide an impressive show of force, but will only join in battle if the enemy is a direct threat to their habitat.

Fey Queen’s Enchantments

Choose one daily or recharge spell of your level or lower from the sorcerer class. You can cast this spell as if you were a sorcerer (though you can’t gather power).

Adventurer Feat: You can choose which ability score you want to use as the attack ability for sorcerer spells you can cast.

Champion Feat: You can now choose from sorcerer at-will spells.

Epic Feat: You gain an additional sorcerer spell of your choice that is your level or lower; a total of two from this talent.

First Strike

Initiate: The first time you attack an enemy during a battle, your crit range for that attack expands by 2 (usually to 18+). A mob of mooks counts as a single enemy. Your animal companion also gains this bonus.

Adept: You gain the Initiate ability plus the following power. Once per day, when your natural initiative roll is 11+, take a free turn before the first regular initiative round.

Icon Enmity

Special: To choose this talent, you must have a negative relationship with at least one icon.

Initiate: Choose one Icon you have a negative relationship with. You gain a 3 point background to represent your skill in hunting down followers of the Icon and creatures associated with it, and ultimately, the Icon itself. Give it an appropriate name, such as Undead Hunter, Demonslayer or Elven Ear Collector.

Your critical hit range against followers of the Icon, as well as creatures associated with it, expands by 2. Your animal companion also gains this bonus.

Adept: You gain an additional icon relationship point with the chosen icon, up to a maximum of 3. Your bonus background is increased to 5. Against the targets, increase your damage rolls by one die. Increase by two dice at 5th level and three dice at 8th level.

Adventurer Feat: Once between short rests, roll twice on one Icon Hunter skill check and take the better result.

Champion Feat: Your crit range expands by 1 (to +3).

Epic Feat: Choose a second Icon that the talent applies to.

Lethal Hunter

Once per battle as a free action, choose an enemy. The crit range of your attacks against that enemy expands by 2 for the rest of the battle. A mob of mooks counts as a single enemy. Your animal companion also gains this bonus.

Ranger ex Cathedral

Choose one daily or recharge spell of your level or lower from the cleric class. You can cast this spell as if you were a cleric. You can change your chosen spell each time you take a full heal-up.

Adventurer Feat: You can cast the cleric class feature heal spell once per battle.

Champion Feat: You can now choose from cleric at-will spells.

Epic Feat: You gain an additional cleric spell of your choice that is your level or lower; a total of two from this talent.

Shifter

As the Druid Talent of the same name. In Beast Form, you can use your flexible attacks. However, if you choose the reroll on a miss option of the Beast Form Attack, neither the miss nor the rerolled attack can trigger flexible attacks.

Soldier of the Wild

You can wear heavy armor and shields without penalty.

Adventurer feat: You can choose one flexible attack from the Fighter list instead of the Ranger list.

Champion feat: You gain a bonus flexible attack from the Fighter list, two levels below your current level or lower.

Epic feat: You gain the Fighter's Threatening class feature.

Stormwarden

When the escalation die is 4+, add your Wisdom modifier in lightning damage to your weapon attacks. Double the bonus at 5th level, triple it at 8th.

Adventurer feat: You can levitate and make supernatural jumps as a move action, but you float back to the ground at the end of the move.

Champion feat: You can add the extra damage when the escalation die is 2+.

Survival Instinct

The long years of surviving out in the wild, relying only on your wits and your will, have taught you how to pull through even in the hardest of circumstances. Add your Wisdom modifier to saving throws as well as death saves. (No matter how many bonuses you add up, a natural 3 or lower will always be a failure)

Your animal companion also benefits from this talent (with his own Wisdom modifier).

Adventurer feat: You die after four failed death saves instead of three.

Champion feat: Once per level, you can declare to survive a certain death situation. If you invoke this ability, you cannot benefit from the escalation die until you gain another level.

Epic feat: Increase your recovery dice to d10.

Terrain stunt

At the start of each battle, roll a d6. Once, after the escalation die reaches that number, you can to use a quick action to execute a terrain stunt. Terrain stunts are improvisational effects that play off your preternatural understanding of the wilderness and all the diverse forms of the natural world. Things like knocking a hornets nest no one had noticed onto your enemy’s head, maneuvering a foe onto a soggy patch of ground that slows them down, shooting the cap off a mushroom spore in a dungeon that erupts on your enemies, getting your enemy’s sword wedged into a stalactite, finding the tree branch that lets you vault up to attack the flying demon that thought it was out of axe range, and similar types of actions.

While the effect of the terrain stunt is open, here are examples as a guideline:- Engage a far away enemy as a quick action- Roll twice on your next attack roll and take the better result- An enemy is dazed, hampered or stuck (save ends)- You remove a terrain obstacle that prevents you from engaging a group of enemies (or create one)- You gain a +4 bonus to defenses until your next turn

Adventurer feat: After a successful stunt, reduce the difficulty of all terrain-related skill checks by one step until the next short rest.

Champion feat: Substract 1 from the d6 roll to determine when you can use the ability.

Epic feat: Once per day, after a successful stunt, increase the escalation die by 1.

Two-Weapon Mastery

You gain a +1 attack bonus when fighting with a one-handed light or simple weapon in each hand.

Adventurer Feat: When you fight with two one-handed light or simple weapons, deal twice your level as miss damage instead.

Champion Feat: If you fight with two one-handed light or simple weapons, whenever an enemy makes a melee attack against you and rolls a natural 1, you can make an opportunity attack against that foe as a free action.

Epic Feat: One battle per day, increase the damage you deal with missed attacks to triple your level instead of double your level (from this talent).

Ranger Flexible Attacks

1st Level Maneuvers

Cover Shot

Flexible ranged attack

Triggering Roll: Any natural odd miss

Effect: An ally engaged with the target can pop free.

Champion feat: All allies engaged with the target can pop free.

Dive for Cover

Flexible ranged attack

Triggering Roll: Any odd attack roll

Effect: Until the end of your next turn, you gain a +2 bonus to AC against attacks from enemies not engaged with you.

Adventurer Feat: You also gain the bonus to PDChampion Feat: Against ranged attacks, increase the bonus to +4Epic Feat: You can move to far away range as a free action

Double Melee Attack

Flexible melee attack; must be fighting with two weapons

Triggering Roll: Any natural even roll

Effect: Make a basic melee attack against the target with your off-hand weapon. The attack deals half damage if it hits.

Adventurer feat: If the escalation die is 2+, the second attack deals full damage.Epic feat: The second attack always deals full damage.

Double Ranged Attack

Flexible ranged attack

Triggering Roll: Any natural even roll

Effect: Make a basic ranged attack against the target. The attack deals half damage if it hits.

Adventurer feat: If you also spend your move action on this attack, the second attack deals full damage.

Epic feat: The temporary hit points stack with any temporary hit points it currently has.

Might of the Spear

Flexible melee attack; must be wielding a spear or other weapon two-handed

Triggering Roll: Any natural even roll

Effect: Increase the weapon damage dice of this attack to d12.

Pack Attack

Flexible melee attack; your animal companion must be next to you

Triggering Roll: Any natural even roll

Effect: Your animal companion makes a basic melee attack against the target. The attack deals half damage if it hits.

Adventurer feat: You can choose take a risk when making the attack. Your animal companion attack deals full damage, but if it misses, it deals no damage, and your animal companion takes damage equal to the enemy's level.

Pack Defense

Flexible melee attack; your animal companion must be next to you

Triggering Roll: Any natural odd roll

Effect: You and your companion gain a +2 bonus to AC until the end of your next turn.

Adventurer feat: Also gain the +2 bonus to PD.

Champion feat: Gain the bonus to all defenses.

Pack Pressure

Flexible melee attack; your animal companion must be next to you

Triggering Roll: Any miss

Effect: Until the end of your next turn, you and your companion gain a +2 melee attack bonus against the target.

Champion Feat: The bonus increases to +4.

Poison Sting

Flexible animal companion attack; requires poison fangs ability

Triggering Roll: Natural 18+

Effect: The attack deals 5 ongoing poison damage.

Adventurer feat: Increase to 10 ongoing poison damage.

Reaim

Flexible ranged attack

Triggering roll: Any natural even miss

Effect: Until the end of your next turn, you gain a +2 bonus to ranged attacks against the target.

Champion feat: Change the triggering roll to any missEpic feat: If your next ranged attack against the target is a hit, deal extra WEAPON damage.

Sharp Claws

Flexible animal companion attack

Triggering Roll: Any natural even miss

Effect: You gain a bonus to your miss damage with that attack equal to the escalation die.

Champion Feat: If you have a beast companion, heavy blows can trigger on any miss, odd or even.Epic Feat: The bonus instead equals double the escalation die with a one-handed weapon, or triple it with a beast companion.

3rd Level Maneuvers

Claws and Bite

Flexible animal companion attack

Triggering Roll: Any natural even roll

Effect: Your animal companion makes a basic melee attack against the target. The attack deals half damage if it hits.

Adventurer feat: If your animal companion is staggered, the second attack deals full damage.

Guard!

Flexible melee attack

Triggering Roll: Any natural even attack roll

Effect: Choose an ally. Once before the start of your next turn, when a nearby enemy makes a an attack against that ally, it provokes an opportunity attack from your animal companion.

Champion feat: The animal companion can make one opportunity attack per enemy.

Epic feat: The companion can guard two allies as long as they are next to each other.

Twin Strike

Flexible melee attack; must be wielding two weapons.

Triggering Roll: Any natural even roll

Effect: Make another melee weapon attack against a different target. The attack deals half damage.

Adventurer feat: Deal full damage against a staggered target.

Headshot

Flexible ranged attack

Triggering roll: Any odd hit

Effect: Deal another WEAPON die damage with this attack. At 5th level, increase to two WEAPON dice. At 8th level, increase to three.

Hit a Wasp Nest

Your stray arrow hit something that distracts the opponent for a moment. It could be a snow from a tree branch, burning oil from a lamp, or a sail going loose. Make it up to match the environment.

Flexible ranged attack

Triggering Roll: Any natural odd miss

Effect: The target is dazed until the end of its next turn. It can choose to ignore the effect, in which case it takes 5 poison damage.

Champion feat: Increase the poison damage to 10.

Pouncing Pindown

Flexible animal companion attack

Triggering roll: Any natural odd hit

Effect: The target is hampered until the end of its next turn.

Champion feat: The target is hampered (save ends).

Shoot Into the Thick of Battle

Flexible ranged attack; must have an ally nearby

Triggering roll: Any odd miss

Effect: Reroll the attack. If the reroll is a hit, you deal extra damage equal to your Wisdom modifier. Double the extra damage at 5th level, triple it at 8th. If the reroll is a natural 5 or lower, you hit an ally engaged with the target. If no ally is engaged with it, you hit a random nearby ally.

Corner them

Flexible animal companion attack

Triggering Roll: Any natural even attack roll

Effect: The animal companion attack deals damage equal to twice its strength modifier. Make a basic ranged attack against the target. You can roll the attack twice and take the better result. Until the start of your next turn, the target takes a -5 penalty to attempts to disengage from your animal companion.

The Core Book Ranger is a class with very little variability. All you get to choose are 3 talents, and of those three, you better take Double Melee or Ranged Attack, as that talent gives a 50% damage boost. So really, you get a class feature and 2 talents. This is fine at low levels, but as you go up, your character never really gets any new shiny abilities. A 10th level Ranger doesn't feel much different from a 1st level Ranger, as we noticed in our campaign. Even worse, the Fighter gets flexible attacks that are almost as good as your Double Melee Attack talent as early as 3rd level.

Therefore, I've decided to rewrite it based on flexible attacks, similar to the Fighter. This brought some major changes:

* Double Melee Attack and Double Ranged Attack are no longer talents, they are molded into the flexible attacks

* The animal companion is now a class feature. However, it no longer gets attacks on its own, it uses your flexible attack mechanic. You can still spend talents on the companion to get a stronger one.

* Since the class now has its main features right out of the gate, there was more space for non-combat and flavor talents.

People in this conversation

Guest - Jordan

Survival Instinct is too much. If you build towards it, and Wisdom is a very good stat to keep high, you can get a +5 to saving throws, more as the character progresses. Saves are a key mechanic, they're used for a ton of monster attacks but more importantly for this kind of bonus they are tied to a lot of magic items. Symbol of the Chosen one + Ranger ex cathedral + Survival Instincts lets players continually use a daily until they roll a 5 or lower. This is just one of many combinations.

I'll change it to saving throws against ongoing effects and death saves. That should exclude most of those combinations.

This doesn't really change much, though - you can still Take Ranger Ex Cathedral, Symbol of Gathered Power (Core Book! No save!) and Hammer of Faith for a minimum of two battles per day. And this works for Core Book Paladins and Rangers too.

Besides, 13th Age DMs have better control over item proliferation (no crafting rules) so it's easier to rein that stuff in if necessary, as opposed to 3E and variants of it.